COLUMBIA, S.C. -- South Carolina's infant mortality rate dropped slightly in 2006 even though thousands more babies were born in the state that year, according to numbers released Tuesday by state health officials.

The rate of 8.4 deaths per 1,000 live births in South Carolina was down from 9.5 in 2005, according to the Department of Health and Environmental Control. That means that for every 1,000 babies born alive in South Carolina in 2006, one more survived than in 2005.

The rate dropped despite 5,000 more babies being born in the state than a year earlier. More than 62,000 babies were born in South Carolina in 2006, compared with 57,000 in 2005.

Despite the overall rate's decline, there was a marked disparity between rates for white babies and other babies.

With congenital birth defects, premature births and low birth weights listed as the leading causes of infant death, the 2006 rate is based on the most recent numbers available. Earlier this year, the Centers for Disease Control released a report based on data from 2003-05 that listed South Carolina's overall infant mortality rate of 9.03 deaths per 1,000 live births as the third highest in the country. That figure, tied with Delaware, ranked only behind Mississippi (10.74) and Louisiana (9.79).

In 2006, the state's infant mortality rate for white babies was 5.7, while the rate for minority babies was 13.2. A year earlier, the rates were 7.0 for white babies and 14.3 for other babies.

Health officials say decreasing that disparity is among their top priorities for infant health in South Carolina.

"I don't think there's an answer for why some of this is different, and so we have to focus on the things that we know work: a healthy mom and early and adequate prenatal care," said Brenda Martin, director of maternal child health for DHEC. "We know there's more work to be done."

To achieve those goals, Martin said her agency stresses that prospective mothers of all races do their best to make sure they are healthy themselves -- chiefly by quitting smoking and seeing their physicians regularly -- before even getting pregnant.

Martin's agency will be trying to do that with less money next year. After Gov. Mark Sanford asked all state agencies to list ways they could cut up to 10 percent of their current budgets, the Department of Health and Environmental Control said it could cut $14 million and 124 positions, the majority from reducing family health programs.

With lawmakers returning to Columbia next week to look for budget cuts, Martin said she's confident state health officials can continue to push the infant mortality rate down, even with less funding.

"We are optimistic that, even with the budget cuts and the changing in our economic structure, we will be able to focus on the leading causes of death among infants and to try to promote healthy mothers," she said.